THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE

(Confession, Reconciliation)

St. Francis of Assisi (Amherst) offers Reconciliation on Saturday afternoons at 4:30 p.m and also by appointment.

FirstReconciliation

Anyone baptized in the Catholic Church who has reached the age of seven years and is in second grade or higher is eligible to receive the Sacrament of Penance, also known as Confession or Reconciliation. Our sacramental preparation team guides parents and children to help them grow in God’s Love as they journey towards the Lord’s Table. Each child must also be enrolled in a religious education class.

More about the Sacrament of Penance:

Not only does it [the Sacrament of Penance] free us from our sins but it also challenges us to have the same kind of compassion and forgiveness for those who sin against us. We are liberated to be forgivers. We obtain new insight into the words of the Prayer of St. Francis: “It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.”

Jesus entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to the Church (2 Cor 5:11-21). The Sacrament of Penance is God’s gift to us so that any sin committed after Baptism can be forgiven. In confession we have the opportunity to repent and recover the grace of friendship with God. It is a holy moment in which we place ourselves in his presence and honestly acknowledge our sins, especially mortal sins. With absolution, we are reconciled to God and the Church. The Sacrament helps us stay close to the truth that we cannot live without God. “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Prayer of St. Expeditus
Glorious Martyr, Saint Expeditus, through the lively faith which was granted you by God, I ask you to awaken the same faith in my heart, that I may also believe wholeheartedly that there is God, but most particularly that I may be saved from sinning against Him.

From the Bishop

Bishop Knestout encourages anyone aware of sexual abuse of minors on the part of clergy or staff of our diocese to notify civil authorities, call the Attorney General’s Clergy Abuse Hotline at 1-833-454-9064 and reach out to the Diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator, at 1-877-887-9603.